ACLU deplores ‘medical abuse’ at prison, seeks pact

CARSON CITY -- The American Civil Liberties Union followed up Friday on an earlier report claiming "gross medical abuse" at Nevada's maximum-security Ely State Prison, urging prison administrators to avoid a drawn-out legal battle by agreeing to reforms.

The ACLU, in a letter to state Corrections Director Howard Skolnik, said a draft consent decree would be sent to Skolnik. The ACLU also asked for a meeting at which a formal agreement on prison medical care changes could be reached.

Skolnik said he hadn't seen the ACLU's proposal for a consent decree "but if and when I do I will refer it to the attorney general's office and they can respond."

The prison director also said he disagrees with the findings in the ACLU report on prison medical care, which was written by Dr. William Noel.

"I continue to hope that our care of inmates is constitutional, and I take issue with a number of Dr. Noel's findings," Skolnik added.

Noel said in his report that at least one convict at the prison, which houses Nevada's death row inmates, "has already died an unnecessary, slow and agonizing death" and more such deaths and unnecessary suffering are likely without prompt health care changes at the prison.

The ACLU's report was based on a review of medical records of 35 prisoners. Noel described the treatment as "the most shocking and callous disregard for human life and human suffering, that I have ever encountered in the medical profession in my 35 years of practice."

Noel said death row inmate Patrick Cavanaugh, was denied insulin for three years, which caused him to develop gangrene that went untreated. The doctor said medical staffers at the prison "left him to rot to death."

The latest ACLU letter also questioned why Cavanaugh was cremated immediately after death without an autopsy or prior contact with next of kin. The letter adds there was a second case of immediate cremation after inmate Robert Estabrook died of cancer, despite a family member's request to be contacted when Estabrook's condition became critical.

Skolnik said the cremations were in line with procedures that have been in place for years. He also said that a family member can get an inmate's body, but a written request has to be submitted in advance in cases of convicts with terminal illnesses.